


Minus One

by CiaraFox



Category: Dark Matter (TV)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Comfort, Crying, Deviates From Canon, Episode: s02e02 Kill Them All, Feels, Fluff, Grief/Mourning, Hitting Things to Deal with Pain, Kind of Self-Harm, Loss, M/M, Pain, Sad, Sad Three, Tears
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-22
Updated: 2019-08-22
Packaged: 2020-09-23 18:13:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20344501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CiaraFox/pseuds/CiaraFox
Summary: The crew have just escaped from prison, to find that One is dead.





	Minus One

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the sads :( I just watched the first few episodes of season 2 again and I’m still upset by how little they reacted to the news of One’s death. I just had to write something better.

_GA officials described the cause of death as an ‘execution style’ shooting._

_Genetic analysis revealed a DNA match for wealthy industrialist Derrick Moss, who went missing over ten months ago following the murder of his wife._

_Mr. Moss had apparently undergone reconstructive surgery to mirror the appearance of this man, Jace Corso, a career criminal presently on the Galactic Authority’s Ten Most Wanted list._

Three felt a sickening swooping feeling inside, like his heart had dived into his gut. One was dead?

Two and Four were with him, staring up at the screen too. The atmosphere was thick with shock and grief.

He reached forward to rub Two’s shoulder, and she looked down away from the screen.

Arax had come into the mess at some point as well, and now he asked, “He a friend of yours?”

“Yeah,” Two said simply, her steady voice like a mask for what was going on inside. “He was.”

Three felt that swooping sensation again. _Was_.

They all started to drift off. None of them were really the type to deal with emotions by sticking together, talking or hugging or crying. When they were upset or vulnerable, they needed to be distant.

Three started off wandering back to his quarters, but halfway there he began to trail to a stop. It didn’t feel right. He couldn’t get his bearings. Everything felt weird. Confused. Lost. Dizzy, almost. Everything was swirling around inside his head and he didn’t know what any of it meant.

He carried on walking, no idea where he was going, until he found himself at One’s room.

There was a twinge of something (pain?) somewhere in his chest. Why the hell had he come here?

The door was open. Looking in, he saw that Five was in there. She was sitting on One’s bed, holding something. A book. _The _book. _Charlotte’s Web_.

Another twinge.

“What’re you doing here, kid?” he asked her, stepping into the room.

She looked up at him, her face shining with grief.

“I heard the TV,” she said. “I was outside the door in the mess.”

Three looked down.

“He’s really…?”

“Yeah,” Three said.

Finding no words, she just nodded, looking back down at the book.

After a second, she sniffed, and wiped the back of her hand across her cheek.

_Oh crap_… Three was not the person to be dealing with a crying girl. But he couldn’t just leave her.

Awkwardly, he walked over and sat down next to Five. After a second of hesitation, he put a hand on her back. He thought he should say something but had no idea what. Luckily, she took the job from him.

“I never did borrow it from him,” she said, and after a moment Three realised she was talking about the book. “I always meant to but just never got round to it. Guess it doesn’t matter now; I can read it whenever.”

Three nodded understandingly, rubbing her back. He felt really out of his depth with this, but he hoped his attempt was helping somehow. Or at least not making things worse.

“It’s not a bad book,” he admitted softly.

They sat there like that for a little while, Five sniffing every so often.

Eventually, Three started getting edgy.

“Um, do you mind if I… head off for a bit?” he asked Five. “Just wanna… go for a walk.”

“Oh. Sure,” said Five, with an attempted smile.

With a small nod, he stood up. He took a few steps towards the door. Then, feeling bad, he turned back.

“Sure you’re gonna be okay?” he asked.

Five looked at him and nodded. “Yeah,” she said, giving him a bit more of a genuine smile. “I’ll be fine.”

“Okay,” Three said.

He headed out the doorway, glancing back one more time before he rounded the corner. Five was lying back on One’s bed, opening _Charlotte’s Web_ and starting to read.

Three still didn’t know where he was intending to go. He just felt like he had to… do something. He couldn’t just sit around.

After a while of walking aimlessly around the ship, he found himself in the storage room containing the vault.

He walked over to the keypad and typed in the code. The vault doors grated open.

Three stepped into the vault and looked around. There were still quite a few boxes they hadn’t managed to get into. Might as well try and crack some open, he thought. Wasn’t like he had anything better to do.

In a corner outside the vault, he found a length of pipe. Just like the one from when they’d first woken up on the ship, that he’d used to crack the lock on one of the crates full of guns.

He grabbed it, chose a box at random, and starting whacking.

As he did, he tried to keep his mind blank. To not feel. But it wasn’t so easy.

Random things kept going through his mind. When he’d first walked into the bridge with his guns on One and Two. Accusing One of doing something to them because he had been the first to wake up. Arguing with One about whether or not to help the miners.

_Make sure to lift with the back! Helps take pressure off the knees._

_You know what’d take pressure off my knees? You helping out._

One aiming a gun at him while they made him take the lie detector test with the android. Being strapped back to back with One by Jace Corso. How they had to work together (very badly) to escape.

_Okay, do me a favour. Next time you have one of your great ideas, keep it to yourself._

_Or I could share it with someone that could follow a simple instruction._

_Yeah, like what?_

_Like _shift_._

_I shifted._

_You didn’t shift, you tilted. If you’d shifted, we’d be outta here–_

_I shifted!_

How he blackmailed him to keep the secret. One saving him when he accidentally blew a hole in the zombie ship.

_What did I say about bullets?! Grab my hand!_

_I can’t! I’m slipping!_

_On three. One – two – Three!_

When One found him after Sarah died.

_It’s my fault. It was my idea to activate the robot. It was stupid._

_Did you programme that thing to attack us?_

_No._

_Did you give Sarah an incurable disease?_

_No…_

_Then what are we talking about?_

Reading _Charlotte’s Web_ and crying at the ending. Sharing whiskey with One as he explained the current status of their one-upmanship. His and One’s loopy, hypoxia-fuelled talk when they were locked in the vault. Blaming One again for being the one that betrayed them. One blaming him.

_I don’t think it matters, ‘cause I’m guessing whoever did this doesn’t have the skill-set to reprogram her._

_I wanna come over there and demonstrate my skill-set on you, pretty boy, huh?_

Deliberately trashing One’s room when searching it for evidence against him. Keeping guard outside his room.

_Evenin’! Going somewhere?_

_Yeah, I was just going to the mess._

_Great. I’ll join ya!_

_On second thought, think I’ll turn in._

_Suit yourself. But if you change your mind, you know where I am! Right here._

Finding One in the room by the vault with a gun pointed at him.

_Don’t move!_

_Thought you were lost. Came looking for ya._

_So you can put a bullet in my head?_

_No. Just looking to keep you out of trouble._

_By setting me up?_

_You know it’s just you and me here, right? You can stop pretending._

Him and One and Two and Five all aiming guns at each other.

_Here we are again._

_Congratulations, your pals are on the way._

_My pals?_

_Galactic Authority._

_What are you talking about?_

_We picked them up on our long-range scanners – they’re headed our way._

_What?!_

_Why do you even bother acting surprised?_

_Because, you idiot, it wasn’t me. It’s never been me._

One choking and falling to the ground in front of him…

And then blackness.

Was that really the last time he saw him? The last time he would ever see him? As they were pointing guns at each other, both adamant that the other was the traitor? When, of course, neither of them were – it was Six all along.

It didn’t make any sense. He and One were always arguing and blaming each other for things, but it was never supposed to end like that. They always had the chance to be proven wrong in the end, or to move on.

Most importantly, no matter how much they argued, he still thought of One as a friend. But maybe One didn’t know that. Maybe he genuinely hated Three. He didn’t know because he’d never really talked to him about anything like that. He knew he wasn’t exactly open about it, but he thought of the whole crew as his friends. They were a team. One to Six.

And now One was gone and Six had betrayed them. They didn’t add up anymore. That was all he had and it was gone.

“Three!”

He barely heard the cry. He was too lost in his head. Until whoever it was ran up behind him and wrapped their arms around his waist.

For a strange moment he thought it was One.

But when he looked down, he saw the turquoise hair and khaki jacket of Five.

“Stop that!” she cried.

Before he could register anything else, pain suddenly flooded through his hands and arms, making him drop the pipe. He fell to his knees.

The box he had been trying to open had a massive furrow across it, the lid bent to the point that it wasn’t even recognisable anymore, and the mangled lock was lying a short distance away on the floor.

He only realised now from the pain how hard he must have been hitting, and for how long.

Five was still hugging his waist, down on her knees with him.

Reaching up a hand to his face, he felt a trickle of moisture on his cheek.

His mind felt numb again, and yet, something about that, and about Five’s touch, brought something of his emotions back.

“I didn’t think that would be it,” he said.

Five looked up at him, her face damp.

“I know,” she said.

Three felt his eyes stinging.

“He should be here,” he said, ignoring them. “It’s not right.”

Five nodded. “He should be,” she agreed softly. “I know. It’s okay.”

But it wasn’t. Three’s face was getting wetter, hot tears staining his cheeks, but he felt disconnected from it all. Not his face. Not his tears. Not his waist that Five was clinging to.

But then, all in a rush, the fight left him.

He sunk down further, almost doubled over. There was more pain now, not just in his arms but inside, in his chest.

He shuffled around until he could wrap his arms around Five in return. He wasn’t sure if he was squeezing her too tightly, but she didn’t seem to mind. She just hugged him tighter too.

“It’s okay,” Five was murmuring.

He didn’t know why she kept saying that when it wasn’t. One was gone. He was never coming back.

He started shaking his head, but couldn’t quite manage to get out the words he wanted to say.

“It’s okay to feel like this,” she said, and Three started to understand. Not okay that he was gone. Okay that he was crying about it. “We all do. He was our friend. Part of our team. It’s okay to let yourself feel it.”

He held her even tighter.

“Thanks, kid,” he muttered.

Across the room, Two was watching, tears in her own eyes as well.


End file.
